


A Good Man

by fanetjuh



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 06:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18685771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanetjuh/pseuds/fanetjuh
Summary: The big war, the long night, it's all finally over. But when Sansa comes out of the crypt she doesn't find the person she's looking for.





	A Good Man

“Where is he?” Sansa was still trembling, but mostly because her eyes were wandering over all the people that had somehow survived this war, but couldn’t find him. “Jon…” She noticed the deep frown on her brother’s forehead while his lips formed a straight line.

Jon was covered in blood and dirt, but he seemed relatively unharmed. “Sansa…” His voice sounded hoarse and the slight shake of his head confirmed her worst fear. “He…” 

“No!” She screamed. She knew that everyone was watching her, but right now she couldn’t care about her reputation. “No, please…” She shook her head over and over and her hands grabbed Jon’s shoulders. “Please…”

“I'm sorry, Sansa.” He bent his head. “I was on my way to the Godswood, but Viserion…” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had fought many battles, but if what she had seen in the crypt had been any indication of what had been going on above he had probably seen things way worse than everything he had encountered before.

But when his words sunk in she furrowed her eyebrows. “If you didn’t kill…”

“Arya.” There was small hint of a smile on his face. “Arya killed him. But not before…”

She didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence. She lifted up her skirt and started running. She ignored the smell of rotting bodies. She ignored the blood and the ashes mingling with the mud. She ignored the soft moans of people on the ground in desperate need of medical care. She simply crossed the courtyard and made her way through the castle until she reached the Godswood.

After the chaos she had rushed past, the Godswood almost seemed serene. There was no moaning and the first rays of sunshine gave the scene an almost surreal glow. The lifeless bodies of the iron men were the only remainders of the war and the fight that had taken place on the holy ground.

She swallowed when she recognised his blond curls in the snow and slowed down. Somehow all the way here she had tried to hold on to the thought that maybe Jon was just wrong. She had prayed and begged and prayed some more that he had just seemed dead, but wasn’t.

But he was. The smug smile he used to wear was gone. The glimmer in his eyes had completely died out. His limps laid in unnatural angles and the remains of blood and sweat still covered all the skin she could see.

Her eyes started burning when she fell down on her knees. Instinctively she searched for the beating vein in his neck, even though she already knew it wouldn’t be there. She wasn’t ready to let go of all hope yet. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be. Maybe she didn’t want to be.

“Theon…” Salted tears rolled down her cheeks and she lifted his head up to place it in her lap. “I’m sorry.” She wasn’t entirely sure what she was saying sorry for.

For leaving him behind at Winterfell all those years ago when she left to marry Joffrey Baratheon?

For accusing him of not helping her when she had been married to Ramsay Bolton?

For not making him stay with her after he had gotten her to Jon safely?

For only realising that she loved him when they had only one more night to live? 

For never really telling him how much she loved him?

For all of those things at once?

“You were a good man, Theon.” She whispered. 

According to Jon the afterlife was nothing but darkness, but maybe that was because he had never truly died. Maybe he had simply been stuck in the in between. Maybe he had never really seen what was waiting for him after death.

Sansa hoped so. Because that meant that her father and mother, her brothers and everyone else she had lost were waiting for her somewhere. It meant Robb was waiting for Theon.

“Robb?” Sansa looked at the face of the weirwood tree. “Robb, please…” Her tears were now falling on Theon’s face. She hoped he didn’t mind. “I know what he did to you and Winterfell and all those people we cared about.” She closed her eyes and bent her head until her forehead touched Theon’s. “But he suffered for it. And then…” She breathed in as deeply as she could. “He helped me. He saved me. He brought me to Jon.” She kissed his closed eyes. “He's a good man, Robb. He made mistakes, but he’s a good man.” She kissed his slightly parted lips. “Embrace him and hold him and tell him I loved him.”

Maybe if things had been different. Maybe if Robbert Baratheon had never showed up to make her father his hand. Maybe if she had not been stupidly infatuated with Joffrey. She and Theon could have had a future together, a happily ever after, their own little home and family not too far away from Winterfell.

“Sansa…” Jon placed a hand on her shoulder, but Sansa shrugged it off.

“Leave me alone!” She raised her voice and tightened her grip on Theon to lift him up. She pressed his body to her chest. “Just leave me alone for a little longer.”

Jon sighed. “It's not over yet…”

“I know!” Sansa screamed. “I know better than anyone.” 

Everyone seemed to think they had won the big war. Everyone seemed that think that after this taking on Cersei was going to be easy. And everyone was underestimating the queen who currently ruled Westeros. 

Everyone but Sansa.

“Just a few more minutes.” She rocked Theon back and forth in her shaking arms. “I just want to be this girl who lost the boy she loves for a few more minutes.” Her shoulders shook. “And then I’ll go back to being the lady of Winterfell.”

Jon didn’t answer, but he stepped back, away from the Godswood, away from Sansa and Theon.

Sansa knew what pain felt like. She had witnessed her father being killed. She had heard the horrible stories about the falsely rumoured deaths of her brothers. It sometimes even felt as if she had been there, at the gruesome murder of Robb and her mother. 

But there was no getting used to feeling that hole in your chest where your heart used to be. And once again her heart was ripped out and shred to pieces.

“You’re a good man, Theon.” She kissed him once last time. “Thank you."


End file.
